Election Day is this Tuesday, November 6.  My ballot this year was long, including national, state, and local representatives and issues.  So many of these issues, on all three levels of government, are big, important, and will impact our day-to-day lives.  My friends in other states tell me their ballots are similar.

Some people think only the presidential elections are important.  I think voting for representatives as well as on state and local issues can be even more impactful.

I’ve turned in my ballot already.  My husband and I sat down to discuss our ballots together and, as in previous years, we invited our boys to listen and participate in as much of the conversation as they wanted (see HERE).

I believe voting is important, and that everyone should let his voice be heard.  But don’t just take my word for it, here are some other thoughts on voting:

“Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.”  —Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Voting is an expression of three key life principles – CHOICE, INTENT, and ACTION.”  – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

“The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.”  —Lyndon B. Johnson

“Voting is completely important. People in America think democracy is a given. I think of it as an ecosystem, and what gets in the way of it is politicians and apathy.”  —Henry Rollins

“The ballot is stronger than the bullet.”  —Abraham Lincoln

“In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate–look to his character.”  —Noah Webster

“If American women would increase their voting turnout by 10 percent, I think we would see an end to all of the budget cuts in programs benefiting women and children.”  —Coretta Scott King

“Now more than ever the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption.”  —James Garfield

“Suffrage is the pivotal right.”  —Susan B. Anthony

“Should things go wrong at any time, the people will set them to rights by the peaceable exercise of their elective rights.”  —Thomas Jefferson

“All we have to do is get out and vote, while it’s still legal, and we will wash those crooked warmongers out of the White House.”  —Hunter S. Thompson

Now please, go and vote.  Vote like your future and the future of your children depends on it.